Bubba Watson WITB for 2018

Bubba Watson has not yet grabbed his first win of 2017, but has certainly been in form and has contended for a handful of the early tournaments.

Bubba is of course sponsored by Ping, and uses a full set of Ping clubs from the putter to driver. Like Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson, Watson is currently hitting the Titleist Pro V1x golf ball.

One unique feature of Bubba’s bag is that he uses True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts on all of his irons and wedges, and uses the Ping 703 Gold grips, with a ribbed grip reminder. Here’s a video explaining what the rib is and how it helps to give you added feel to your club. You certainly don’t need to run a string to save $5 per club, click here to view Golfsmith’s selection of ribbed grips.

What’s In the Bag: Bubba Watson

Driver: Ping G at 9 degrees

Shaft: Grafalloy BiMatrix Pink X ShaftPing continues to push the limits of what we thought possible with club head design. Ping engineers saved 8 grams of weight over the G30 driver by thinning the titanium crown down to .43mm. The weight was then shifted to the CG, which is now lower, deeper and bigger than any other driver on the market. The result is a club that is incredibly forgiving, and one that generates a ton of ball speed at less loft. In neutral tests compared to the G30 which was and is a great driver, the G club head was faster, the ball speed was way up, launch angle down almost a full degree, and the club is considerably longer and more forgiving. This is especially important for Bubba who can overswing (although he doesn’t need to)… This swing from the Northern Trust Open was 334 middle of the fairway:

3-Wood: Ping G at 14.5 degrees

Shaft: Fujikura Motore Speeder Tour Spec 8.2XThe Ping G 3-Wood incorporates many of the same technologies that set this year’s driver apart. The club head is lighter, but they added weight and size to the CG. Both the driver and fairway woods from Ping have already won several awards, and are currently on Golf Digest’s hot list. Bubba only carried a 3 wood this past weekend, choosing to carry a 2-iron in his bag rather than a second fairway wood.

Irons: Ping S55 2, 4-9

Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Tour IssueThe technology in Ping’s 2015 offerings is quite impressive. They have managed to make small changes to their club head designs and specifically the groove design in their irons, to find extra MOI, distance, and added forgiveness. The S56 irons were widely considered to be the best irons Ping had ever created, however the S55’s outperform them in every way. Bubba Watson made the switch from the S56 to the S55 as soon as they were available, and judging by his play this past week (won Northern Trust despite hitting just 50% of fairways) we would say he’s glad he made the switch.

Ping S55 and Glide Wedges

Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 Tour Issue

Bubba hits Ping wedges, starting with a Ping S55 48 Degree Wedge, the 52 and 56 degree Ping Glide SS Wedges, and a 60 degree Ping Glide TS. The difference between his 52 and 56 and 60 degree Ping Glide wedges is the thickness of the sole. Ping makes these wedges with three different soles, thin, standard and wide. These clubs were designed for consistency, and are certainly a step up from last season’s tour line of wedges. While they look great, the real step up in the technology in the grooves is what separates these clubs from their competition. You are looking at around $130 for steel shaft and $150 for graphite shaft on each of these wedges.

Putter: Ping Anser Milled 1

With a ton of putters on the market in varied shapes and sizes, the tried-and-true Ping blade putter is still the choice for Bubba. The Anser Milled 1 was released in 2012 and has since been the standard-bearer for feel in a putter. The feel of hitting a putt true on the Anser Milled 1 can only be compared to hitting a perfect iron shot… you just know it when you feel it. Perhaps the best thing about these putters is that they were $300 when they came out in 2012, but you can get them today for $149 and they are still one of the best putters on the market.

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

The Titleist Pro V1x is easily the tour favorite. Perhaps Spieth said it best when he described why the Pro V1x ball is the best on the market:

“The Titleist Pro V1x is better for me because that softer cover around the greens allows me to have more spin control and softer feel off the blade of my putter without jeopardizing any distance or spin with the long clubs. It’s still long off the tee with more control off the greens.”

These balls range anywhere from $4-$5 per ball, but you can always get overrun balls from Golfsmith at a 25-35% discount. They just have someone else’s name or another course’s logo on them.

Good idea, we will have the post updated with links to both left and right, the majority of the pages we have listed let you switch between hands when ordering. Yes, this was his bag for the 2016 Northern Trust.